|
After viewing House of Sand and Fog, I’m still amazed how filmmakers fail in a simple test of logic and still expect its story to resonate with its audience especially when its main catalyst is seriously at fault. This is the second film of 2003 where there are serious lapses in logic and reason. The other one is Mystic River.
Here, we are led to believe that a county can evict a homeowner for non-payment of a $500 tax assessment, auction off the property and not give any monetary consideration to the owner for the fair market value of the seized property. While I could easily forgive the film for this serious mistake, forgetting about it is another matter as the whole story revolves around this very basic premise including a tragic turn of events that happens later on.
But if I can accept this lapse in logic then Vadim Perelman’s debut film is an absorbing tale of mistakes and misjudgments and ultimately becomes a tragedy in errors. Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly and Ron Eldard are all exceptional. The circumstances these characters are in are all the more real. But how they get there is the problem.
Finally, it is possible to accept that the system and individuals make certain mistakes – this I always believe. We live in a world of flawed individuals and a system that sometimes does not work. But when a film’s story inexplicably defies that there is a system in place and totally betrays this foundation to which its character’s motivations are entirely based on, no matter how good the performances are, its entire credibility is shattered.
A film this good, should not be this frustrating.
~Edwin
|